A day off work

[emma36]

Have been forced to go off sick from work today, not something i really like doing. Woke up this morning though with such pain in my hands and thumbs. Couldn't even manage to pick up a small Childs plastic plate and toast without dropping it! Feeling really miserable, in fact i just feel like crying. Don't very often loose my fight but am 6 weeks into methotrexate and getting worse not better. Seriously considering going to see gp to get signed off work, just till things get a bit better.

Advice please guys, should my symptoms be getting worse at this point?

[Ronnie63]

Hi Emma

What dose are you on and has it been increased yet?I started on 7.5 and it was increased by 2.5 every two weeks subject to blood tests, the higher the dose the better I. Felt. Yes I did feel worse before I felt better because the disease was becoming more active until I reached the optimum dose, so there was in effect a time lag. You could ask for a short dose of steroids to get you through this period

I'm not surprised you are taking time out as you've only just started really and need to give your body a chance to deal with it, the more fatigued you are from work the harder that will be. Take care and rest up today

[emma36 in reply to Ronnie63]

Thanks, that does help. I have been increasing and went up to 15mg on Thursday. Guess I just need to give it some time. Just feeling bad because my 6 year old son has been a complete angel to me this morning. Without me saying anything to him, his behaviour changes when I am not well and he becomes very protective of me. Just makes me very sad that he needs to be aware of this horrid disease. Although it also makes me very proud of him x

[Hidden]

You know what Emma, there's nothing wrong with your children growing up aware of equality and disability - my kids [now all adults] have had an unwell Mum from the start [kidney disease and then RA] and are all caring and empathic people and don't feel that they've missed out on anything. They've all done well at school and uni [despite me being in and out of hospital] and have good jobs, but most of all are just good fun people who know what is really important in life - and that is your relationships with the people that you love:-}

I used to have pangs of guilt as this wasn't what I wanted for them - and I brought them up on my own from when they were aged 7, 4 and 3 weeks old - but I now know the truism, that at any given time we're all doing the best that we can given the circumstances that we find ourselves in:-} There is no blame to be attached to developing a systemic disease and therefore no guilt should be attached.

I would ask for steroid cover until the MTX reaches an effective level and take some time off whilst it does its' work. You will get much better than this and be able to live a good and productive life with your lovely little family:-} This stage can be miserable, but know that it will get better.

Hugs,

Cece x

[emma36 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. Deep down I know all the things you have said, its just really nice to hear it from someone else, it helps xx

Its very rare for me not to be positive but it is lovely that you guys are all out there when I am having a blip xx

[Hidden in reply to emma36]

I think that we all recognise that early diagnosis misery - you don't 'have' to be positive 1OO% of the time, that's just not realistic

Cece x

[emma36 in reply to Hidden]

I think that is the hardest thing, I am not newly diagnosed. I have had this disease for 10 years but been really lucky that it hasn't really affected me. The fact that it is suddenly worse and that it now does impact on my life makes me just a little bit cross! Xx

[Hidden in reply to emma36]

The same thing applies - when it kicks in, it kicks in No wonder you're feeling cross! x

[sylvi in reply to Hidden]

Cece thats is the best reply i have seen and well done to you for bringing your family up so well.xxx

[Case in reply to Hidden]

Such true & kind words. X

[allanah]

Oh bless you! Theron thing is not to feel guilty for being sick or having days off work. I made that mistake and I realise now that was not helpful at all . All that happened was I sat at home feeling bad and distress caused by fear of being off work so try it on your days off work to spoil yourself a little. I thought, come on, you only have arthritis! But I often forget that it isn't just joints are affected its the rest of our body to, I get really bad tiredness and feel like I have the most horrendous flu all the time especially when I am flaring.

Maybe you could call your rheumatology helpline and ask for a little more help until the tablets Kick in, they may offer you as the others said some steroids which I find are amazing and really help at the beginning of your illness and until you are methotrexate works. I suspect you are at all at sixes and sevens today and when I was like that I got great comfort and help from the NRAS helpline, I could tell them my worries for example about the children without having to pester the rest of the family with my worries. And they come up with the most amazing ideas that helped me, so it's worth thinking about. Also like you I kept blogging on this site because it made me feel as though I wasn't alone, very often when I was first diagnosed I feel alone with my illness and didn't know how to cope with it so definitely being on here and talking to NRAS helped me so much. Hope you get the help you need to day and that the rest from being away from work is what you need, I did take a few weeks off work as I found it impossible to go in and do the job I was required to do. I didn't want to be a further burden on a very overworked service also. And surprise surprise they actually coped without me ha ha hah hah! Hope u have a less painful afternoon, get the painkillers into you and I find warm or cold pads very helpful too , love Axx

[emma36]

Thank you xx

[emma36]

Begining to feel better already xxx just helps to get it out of my head then I can move on and forward. Will call my nurse after I have seen my gp x

[Hidden]

Hi Emma, I can't add anything that no-one else hasn't already said. I had 2 months off work whilst my medication kicked in and I don't regret it as I needed that time to adjust to everything. Steroid tablets helped during that time. During that time it was difficult as my fingers were so stiff I couldn't hold a cup of tea properly. Fast forward a year I'm now doing pretty well and have had very little time off work. Hope you start to feel better soon x

[sylvi]

Mtx takes a good 12 weeks to really get into your system,so taking time out from work won't hurt.xxx

[emma36]

Thank you all xx. I have listened and taken your advice. Signed off work for a while so i can concentrate on getting better, gp going to give me steroid ink to tide me over. Spent all day in bed sleeping and do feel a little better.

Once again, thanks all for being there xx